Voda Apartments — Local services in Kirkland

EDIT 06/30/25: going down to 2 for now, because the elevators keep breaking. Since the start of the year, I don't think that there was a full week where both the elevators worked correctly at the same time. One of them currently rattles around the chute when being used. It feels like it belongs in a 100 year old building. That's after one of them was down for a couple of weeks. The call buttons on some floors refuse to work. I'm a bit tired of our concerns being literally laughed off when we voice them in person. I'm sick of our negative reviews getting the same fake concern response with an invitation to report our issues to the office, when we don't get taken seriously once we actually do. There is a reason why when you look up the management company itself - Avenue 5, it has only 1 star reviews. A solid 3.5 stars for now. It's mostly quite pleasant and problem-free but at least once a week the trash chutes on our floor just refuse to work. Our AC unit for some reason is equipped with the business controller, instead of a residential one, and it's next to impossible to have it hold the temperature setting for longer than two hours. Our dishwasher fell out of it's housing four times now. If you're planning to live anywhere that is not the top floor, be aware that you will hear your upstairs neighbors' every step, unless they are nice enough to be aware of it and wear slippers. Results may vary - the people who used to live above us initially had a treadmill in their unit, and we could hear it every single day. Overall it is a nice place, but it's far from being "luxury". The current manager at least appears to be doing a lot better with keeping the building clean and functional, instead of just sending passive aggressive emails that people would...

Very disappointed with my experience at VODA. I visited VODA with my friend, Roberta. I found an apartment I really liked and decided to pay a deposit to hold the unit. We were told I would get a free months rent, the price of the apt was 2,700 and that $ 600 would hold my apt and that $ 300 of that 600 was refundable. My friend was present for all discussions, and when I completed the paper work. She asked him for clarification and he restated the above. The truth was the $300 was not refundable, the apt rent was $ 3,045, not 2,700. The sales agent came up with the 2700 after prorating the one months free rent over a year. I found it to be similar to a " bait n switch " . John Paul was the employee and is no longer with the company. I never was able to speak with him again. Also dog walker access was difficult because if you were a single renter/occupant you got 1 key. This was a problem for me and another friend who also backed out. VODA did offer to connect us with another dog walker. Their fees were nearly double that of my current walker and with half the amount of time. I tried to explain what John Paul has said, and offered my friends input. We were told clearly there would be no refund and the rent was 3,045 not including the extra fees for my dog, as well a parking fee of $ 125. My advice is to get EVERYTHING in writing and hold them to task. I must say it is a lovely place, well done, and a great location. Also at the time, I asked to see other units facing south and west. I was told they were already leased and if anything was available, I would not like it, as it faced the back of the Heathman hotel and the others facing the water were a bit noisy. Later on I viewed the units facing the Heathman and they were great, quiet and...

Overall, Voda is pretty good. I've lived here 4 years now, and I'll probably renew again unless I have reason to move. It's really hard to beat the location.

Within the building, the apartments themselves are the highlight. The floor plan in my unit (1 bedroom with den) is very practical, with a nice, big kitchen, plenty of storage in the pantry, and a private patio. Maintenance for anything inside of our apartment is always really fast and helpful.

The real amenities you end up paying for here are the location and AC. There are better (but pricier) options if you want luxury amenities. There is no reservable social space to host guests. The closest we get is a nice common outdoor patio, but that ended up being closed all of last summer for minor renovations.

The area where I feel like I have to knock off a star is building upkeep. The trash chutes seriously break at least once per week, and this has been going on for years. Elevators are another pain point -- they break multiple times per year, and I have gotten stuck in one of them when it failed. Thankfully it happens less often than it used to, but it still happens. The gate to the parking garage actually gets stuck down when the power goes out, with no way to open it manually. When the power went out for multiple days last fall, all of our cars were stuck until a contractor could open the gate, with no way to leave in case of emergency. Other than the trash (which I've just gotten used to hauling downstairs), these aren't day-to-day problems, but they're very...